'Bullett Raja' rakes Rs 21 crore in its opening weekend

Either the benchmarks are too high or the attention span of the public, too low. Whichever way you look at it, it’s palpable how the commercial dynamics have changed since the advent of that fabled 100-crore club.

Saif Ali Khan and Sonakshi Sinha in Tigmanshu Dhulia’s 'Bullett Raja'

Besides, which film wouldn’t want to be its member? Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Ram-Leela became one last week. In other news, Bullett Raja would apparently take much longer to do so, if at all.

Directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia (of the Paan Singh Tomar and Saheb, Biwi aur Gangster fame), Bullett Raja stars Saif Ali Khan and Sonakshi Sinha. According to trade analyst Komal Nahta, the action-drama hasn’t done very well at the box-office over the weekend. “Friday, Saturday and Sunday accumulated north of Rs 21 crore for Bullett Raja. Monday’s half-day collections saw a massive dip in footfall. It’s fair to say that the film hasn’t done exceptionally great.”

Exhibitor Rajesh Thadani too echoes similar views about the only release Bollywood saw last Friday. “For a film that must have required not less thanR60 crore to complete, Rs 20 crore-type business at the end of first weekend doesn’t seem promising. To begin, there wasn’t a lot of buzz about the film unlike say, Ram-Leela which went full throttle on publicity. In contrast, Gori Tere Pyaar Mein is barely there.”

Speaking of Ram-Leela, the Ranveer Singh-Deepika Padukone starrer crossed the R100 crore mark last week. “Head-to-head, Ram-Leela is doing better than Bullett Raja and I won’t be surprised if the former goes strong into the third week as well,” adds Nahta.

While Hollywood releases, Frozen and Delivery Man, failed to capture imagination on a large scale.

With the year dragging to an end, there are few releases lined up and one can wonder why the audience prefers to stay away from the cinema halls. Thadani points to the influence of word-of-mouth on big banners as much as smaller ones.

“Public has grown smarter with the amount of information at its disposal. Thanks to which, people can now decide whether they wish to spend big bucks on a movie or not. You can’t expect all star-studded films to become a hit in the ongoing scenario,” quips Thadani.

Choreographer-turned- director Prabhu Dheva’s R…Rajkumar releases next week. What is worth noting here is it will mark Sonakshi’s second release in as many weeks.